PHOTOSHOP REDESIGN

While Adobe Photoshop is one of the most used design tools in the world, people only use a small fraction of Photoshop’s tools. For this project, my team and I wanted to rethink the process of using this software regularly and consider other play (interaction) values that would make new users have a better experience.

For this project, I worked with Sergio Burgos and Uriel Zarate to identify different areas of opportunity. My responsibilities on this project were developing and executing the research plan, synthesizing information from interviews and user testing, and to propose a list of possible changes in the design of Adobe Photoshop. In this one week project, I worked on research, synthesis, ideation, user testing and execution process. Our adviser for this project was Catherine Herdlick.

Our goal was to create a version of Photoshop for novice designers that makes them feel like the master designers they FANTASIZE about becoming.

While Adobe Photoshop is one of the most used design tools in the world, people only use a small fraction of Photoshop’s tools. For this project, my team and I wanted to rethink the process of using this software regularly and consider other play (interaction) values that would make new users have a better experience.

Journey Map

Identifying the pain points in the user journey is crucial to come up with solutions. We went through the current user journey and identified which were the areas of opportunity we wanted to address given our goals, constraints and deadline.

Our goal for this project was to create a version of Photoshop for novice designers that makes them feel like the master designers they FANTASIZE about becoming.

pain points

Photoshop has a confusing onboarding process that discourages the user from using the software to its full potential.

Due to the busy nature of Photoshop, icons are small and cluttered. This makes users feel overwhelmed and the user tends to rely on the same tools (the ones they’re familiar with) for different projects.

Simple tasks become difficult to accomplish due to the high language learning curve. Some names used don’t communicate what the tool does successfully.

Users can only share their work on Behance from Photoshop. There is no option to share on social media or other platforms directly.

Our approach: streamline the onboarding process, declutter the menu, minimize the high language learning curve, and motivate users to share their work online.

Ideation

Users gets to choose the kind of project they are working on, so the most relevant menu features expand while all other features disappear.

Hidden features become visible when choosing an option from the menu, while giving instant feedback when choosing them.

The language learning curve is reduced by having a screen showing looping videos that explain what each tool does.

Users can easily save and export albums to their favorite social media and get instant validation through likes.

user testing showed that users want photoshop to personalize their experience depending on the project they are working on. Our research also validated our assumptions regarding the language curve and we also noticed that most users relied on online videos to troubleshoot.

Solution

On-boarding

A different mode can now be selected depending on the project you are working on. This allows for a unique interface with personalized options that are related to that specific project.

Toolbar

We removed the overwhelming amount of icons by personalizing the tools that are relevant to the project that is being edited. This allows for more space and more specific options along the toolbar.

GIF Tutorials

We simplified the learning curve by adding a tutorial window that shows looping videosof different examples on certain tools. We show what you can accomplish in a more visual and engaging way.

Adjustments Carrousel

For being one of the most used features on Photoshop, adjustments were a bit complicated to use. The icons were confusing and also sometimes get lost in the right panel.We added labels to the icons used on adjustments and by adding an “adjustments carrousel” makes these features more accessible and distinguishable.